one person's life

Chapter 264 Mandrill
After understanding the ins and outs of Zhuge Gong's acquaintance with the merchant named Huo, Tang Muzhi smiled knowingly.Warlocks have high skills, and they can get answers to things directly by entering the interior scene and asking them. For things like guessing the flow of a shop, as long as he is not impetuous, he can easily figure it out, but he probably is not like this made.

Whether they are Taoist people or sorcerers in the circle, many of them have high attainments in the calculation of magic numbers, but the more expert they are, the less they can explain one thing clearly, like Taoist lingo, The numerology hexagrams of warlocks are all implicit expressions. Once they make a clear assertion about something, it often means that the matter has not been measured, but is a conclusion obtained through scientific methods.

Boss Huo and Zhuge Gong chatted for a long time, and Boss Huo always looked like he was asking for advice humbly.After three drinks, he finally explained his purpose.

"Mr. Zhuge, to be honest, Huo heard some strange things two days ago. Oh, I'm not afraid of your jokes. It makes me very uneasy about this business. I always feel that something is going to happen, and I feel like a storm. It feels like coming.”

Zhuge Gong almost lay on his back on the chair and said slightly drunkenly: "What's the strange thing? Boss Huo just said it's okay."

Tang Muzhi just raised his glass and listened quietly.

Boss Huo took a sip of good wine, "Ha—"

He smashed his mouth, his dark, fat and oily face frowned, and he said in a voice full of doubts and fear: "I am from the north, and now everyone knows that the southern country is not peaceful. It’s terrible, people are dying from county to county. It is said that the water in the downstream has been dyed red. So the tea and salt business can’t go on. The inventory in the place of Chahai is exhausted, and there will be nothing next month. Business is done.”

There was a war in the south, and a large amount of tea, cloth, and handicrafts were accumulated. Of course, they took this opportunity to raise prices. Some businessmen from other places who came here felt that the prices were not worthwhile, and all the profits were given to the locals. They What to earn?
So some businessmen cooperated with each other, promised some silver, recruited a group of local bodyguards, and walked a hundred miles southeast. Although there was a war there, as long as the trade route was opened secretly, the profits would be enough for people to try and take some risks. risk.

The group of escort merchants deliberately chose a time at night when no one was around to leave the market. If they were too grand, they would inevitably arouse the anger of the local farmers and merchants in Chahai. After all, if the southern trade routes were opened, it would cut off other people's wealth.

"What happened later?" Zhuge Cheng asked aloud when he heard that he had nothing to say.

Boss Huo sighed: "Those people left Chahai for a long time, but no one came back, and there was no news about their whereabouts. Later, their friends worried that they would run into someone and fight, and they would all be buried in a foreign land. I found a few more people to go south to see if there was a war, but I didn’t expect to receive a letter a few hours later.”

"That group of merchants and bodyguards, a total of 25 people, all died on the way!" Boss Huo showed a look of horror on his face: "It is said that these people died in extremely miserable conditions! All of them had their heads missing. Their stomachs, intestines, and hearts were ripped out by ghosts. The first person to find their bodies was frightened to death, and no one who came after them dared to collect the bodies for them. They went crazy not long after returning to Chahai. Oh, it’s really It’s miserable enough!”

Zhuge Gong's brows moved slightly: "I heard about this incident. It seems that everyone thought it was ghosts causing trouble, and even used ghost lamps."

Zhuge Gong gestured toward the outside of the pavilion, and Tang Muzhi immediately understood that the "spiritual lanterns" he was talking about were actually the round lanterns that could be seen everywhere on the streets. Now that the sun was setting and the moon was bright in the sky, many people had already used these "spirit lanterns" "Light it up, and there is an oily green flame under the white paper of the lantern. It looks like the whole street is like a scene in the underworld, which is very strange.If it weren't for the large influx of outsiders in Chahai recently, and the local people's business is booming, I'm afraid there won't be a single person on the street at this point.

Of course, Boss Huo was not afraid of ghosts. He asked Zhuge Gong if there was any way to receive goods from the South at a low price. His words meant that he wanted to get Zhuge Gong to join him in pretending to be a ghost and deceiving people to make money. He said that merchants were profit-oriented. It turns out that Duo was just pouring out his misery.

Zhuge Gong was not afraid of his nudges at all, and the three of them stayed in the tavern until midnight. During this period, Tang Muzhi listened to what Zhuge Gong got out of the mouth of the man named Huo, and found that the world was not like any dynasty he was familiar with. On the contrary, it is like a fantasy novel, full of all kinds of stories about gods and ghosts.

After all, Boss Huo lost his temper and did not dare to offend this half-immortal, so he sighed and left.

It was getting late at night, and Zhuge Gong yawned, wondering why he still felt sleepy in the illusion. He didn't want to sleep, so he suggested that they go outside the market and walk toward the south to see if there were really ghosts at work.

Tang Muzhi agreed, so the two of them left the market under the moonlight and the green light of the "spiritual lantern" and walked south according to the story told by Boss Huo.

This is a plain area, with the full moon hanging high in the night sky, and you can still see the ruts heading this way. They are very shallow, but they can be easily traced with the help of the alchemist's methods.Tang Muzhi and Zhuge Gong followed the rut until dawn. At the end of the plain where they could see the green mountains of the southern country, they heard the sound of beasts chewing not far away, and smelled the smell of blood and carrion.

There is a rare source of water, and the surrounding sparse trees and shrubs block the view, which is a rutted route.Tang Muzhi took the lead and pushed aside the low bushes. He saw about [-] corpses scattered across the cobblestones on the bank of the turbid river. There were four or five monsters that did not look like humans or monkeys. He was lying on the corpse, biting and eating.

This monster looks like a human dwarf. It is no more than 1.5 meters in length. It has a hunched waist and a bulging spine like a big centipede crawling on its back. Its whole body is covered with black hair. Only its buttocks is blood red, as if it had just escaped from the dead. It came out of the sea of ​​​​blood and was dyed again, but the tail was not visible.This monster has slender arms and sharp nails that can easily tear apart the muscles of a corpse. When it moves, it seems as if its body is covered with a thick layer of black soil, which spreads around the body like miasma.

Finally, a monster spotted them and turned its head. It had a large and long horse face, with white cheekbones on both sides growing out of the skin. It had been stained with dark red blood from eating people. Its red nose bones were long and narrow. , there were thin red or green lines on both sides of its cheeks, its teeth were long and sharp, and its face seemed to be covered with a ghost face; at this time, it was holding a severed arm with not much rotten flesh in its hand.

Zhuge Gong frowned when he saw this scene. Although he was a Qi alchemist, he encountered many ghosts and ghosts when he entered the world and traveled around the world, but these things were often related to the elves, immortals or people who practiced evil arts. To be honest, he has never seen any monster before.

"Mandrill?"

"Horse monkey?"

Tang Muzhi and Zhuge Gong looked at each other. Both of them are the same animal, which is the giant monkey. Because the bright colors on its face look like it is wearing a ghost mask, it was also called a mandrill in ancient times.But these monsters are still a little different from mandrills——

"whee!"

The mandrill that Tang Muzhi saw first actually smiled very humanely, and then a stream of black smoke surged from its body. Its spine grew taller and taller like a pillar, and its arm muscles began to bulk up. The evil ghost On the same face, the bright and twisted color bars twisted, and finally "Tang Muzhi" stood up straight with a charming smile.

The remaining four mandrills also transformed into human beings, with evil smiles on their faces, and uttered human words: "In a daze? Why don't you wash your necks quickly and let your grandpa monkey enjoy it!" After that, they all grinned. The big mouth bit towards Tang Muzhi and Zhuge Gong.

"Haha, this illusion is really interesting. It's like running into another world." Zhuge Gong approached Tang Muzhi and said, "Old Tang, are you coming or should I?"

Tang Muzhi shrugged his shoulders, and with his backhand, he knocked out the two mandrills that were biting towards him head-on.

"Hey, your body is quite strong." Zhuge Gong clicked his tongue and said in surprise.Unexpectedly, these mandrills were timid and did not dare to come forward. The man who became "Tang Muzhi" in front of him shouted sharply, calling several of his kind to leave: "Brothers, let's retreat!"

"Ouyou, you're still a monkey bandit."

A stream of true energy that looked like a trickle gushed out from Tang Mu's palm, and in an instant, it wrapped up the five mandrills that were speaking human words one after another like a snake. It seemed that there was strong adhesive force on them, and these monsters screamed no matter how hard they were. Even the tumbling couldn't escape Tang Muzhi's palm.

"what?!"

"The net is stuck! The net is stuck!"

Zhuge Gong looked at the Qi balls that were clinging to the mandrill like spider threads, thought for a moment, and asked curiously: "Sticky, sticky, connected, Sui...Old Tang, are you a Tai Chi Yin Shou?" "

Tang Muzhi did not answer him, but asked: "How to deal with these monsters?"

Zhuge Gong looked at the mandrill that had transformed into himself and pressed his head: "I figured out a lot of things when I saw them. You still remember that the man surnamed Huo said that those who went to find those merchants and bodyguards would come back Did everyone go crazy after that? It seems that these monsters pretended not to run away. Look, the number of corpses on the ground is obviously more than the people in the caravan, and the time of death is also separated. "

Tang Muzhi rolled his eyes: "Don't play tricks on me. I asked you what to do with them. Aren't you just telling me that these monsters are useless? Just tell me that I will kill them."

"Don't stop ... Two grandpa, have something to discuss!"

The monster mandrills heard Tang Muzhi's words and turned back to their original ugly appearances to beg for mercy.Zhuge Gong touched his chin and smiled bitterly: "Although it is an illusion, it is not good to go on a killing spree. Moreover, we haven't asked clearly yet what are the mandrills pretending to be adults and sneaking into Chahai, and how many are there in total? "

Tang Muzhi raised his left arm vigorously and pulled it, and the five monster mandrills were pulled to his feet in an instant. The one who reacted quickly felt the power of Tai Chi disappeared and wanted to run away. Blast his head off.

"hiss--"

The mandrill trembled, and no one dared to move rashly.Tang Muzhi narrowed his eyes, and grabbed the mandrill that had pretended to be him with one hand.

"Tell me, how many of your accomplices, um... the same kind, how many of your kind have gone to the market pretending to be adults?"

The mandrill said in a trembling voice: "Uncle, don't kill us, I'll kill them all."

It turns out that these mandrills are monsters native to the South. They are born with the ability to see ghosts and ghosts and imitate various animals.They wake up early, feed on humans on weekdays, and live in groups. Some tribesmen also sneak into the human world and commit crimes latent for a long time.

There are wars everywhere in the South. In order to avoid being discovered by the army, they are lurking on the border of the South. When they were resting here a few days ago, a group of merchants who wanted to do business were traveling with a few empty donkey carts and they happened to catch them. Of course, they did not let them go. reason.

Two days after those people died, someone else came looking for them. Now the mandrill leader identified Chahai as his target, so he killed the people who came and entered the market in their appearance, preparing to kill them at night. One game.

As for the remaining few, it is said that they did not follow because they were too young, for fear of being besieged and killed by humans.

The ability of mandrills to transform can only last for three days, and now is the last day, which means that those mandrills hiding in Chahai have already taken action!

Zhuge Gong's face moved slightly, and his eyes shot out a bright light toward the market. The sky was not clear yet, and he could only see thick smoke billowing in the market and flames reaching into the sky.

"Oh, what a coincidence..." Zhuge Gong frowned and said, "Let's go back."

Tang Muzhi didn't say much, and slapped the remaining four monsters to death. Zhuge Cheng asked him to take a step first, and then he stretched out his hand, and a blue twisting flame rose from his fingertips. Lips slightly parted:
"Xunzi·Erlang Bufeng."

The fire took advantage of the wind, and the Samadhi True Fire followed the storm blowing under Zhuge Gong's feet, completely wrapping the sparse grove, and nothing was ignited by the menacing flames.

However, in the eyes of the warlock, the remaining souls that had been wandering in the woods for a long time and could not be freed all dissipated in just an instant.

……

The lively market that was bustling with people yesterday has now turned into a hell on earth.The candles have been burned out, the pure white ghost lanterns are stained with blood, corpses are lying on the street, broken door panels, iron pots upside down on the ground, heads with open eyes, and dilapidated thatched houses are being devoured by flames bit by bit.

Sadness is everywhere, a mess.Tang Muzhi glanced over and saw about thirty or forty mandrills. They were very different from the thin and small ones he had seen in the bushes before. Now they had revealed their original appearance. Each one was more than 1.6 meters long, and their faces were ferocious. , each carrying long knives, axes and other sharp weapons to confront the panicked crowd.

The mandrills' sneak attack plan succeeded. Half of the strong men in Chahai Market were beheaded in their dreams without knowing it. Among the remaining people alive, excluding the old, weak, women and children, the remaining manpower was no longer enough to compete with the mandrills. .

The most eye-catching thing among them is the leader of the mandrills, which is a giant ape with closed eyes. Unlike other mandrills around him, this leader has a white head and long hair, snow teeth and golden claws. He is about five feet tall and has a white head. The hair was spread out like a lion, with a series of human heads tied with iron ropes tied around its waist. A crystal smelly liquid was constantly flowing out of its eyes, nose and mouth. It was holding a black and blood-stained sword and began to slowly come into contact with the crowd.

(End of this chapter)